1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the control of a management system for receiving data to be collected from an agent operating on a network device, such as an image forming apparatus or an information processing apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, with the spread of printers and digital multifunction peripherals (MFPs), there is a digital MFP for saving job history information in a storage device to prevent the leakage of information or to trace an information leaker, when a job, such as a print, copy, FAX, or electronic mail transmission job is executed. Further, it is also possible to add a function to a printer driver and save job history information in a storage device when a printing job from a print client personal computer (PC) is executed.
The job history information includes information about a user having executed the job, information about the date and time of the execution of the job, information (an Internet Protocol (IP) address, a serial number, or a media access control (MAC) address) for identifying a digital MFP or a print client PC having executed the job, and log attribute information, such as the type of the executed job. The job history information may further include image data which is obtained by forming data from an image input to the digital MFP or is obtained by forming data from a print target in the print client PC, and reduced image data which is obtained by reducing the image data.
A job history information processing system for processing such job history information includes the digital MFP, the print client PC and the like, i.e., a job history processing server and an agent management server.
In the digital MFP and the print client PC, a client application (hereinafter referred to as a “collection agent”) for transmitting job history information recorded by the digital MFP or the printer driver to the job history processing server is installed.
Further, the job history processing server is a management system having an image processing function and a function of saving job history information in a storage device. Further, the agent management server has a function of saving setting information of the collection agent and information for issuing unique identification information in the system to the collection agent.
In such a job history information processing system, if the agent management server is stopped, it becomes not possible to issue unique identification information in the system to the collection agent.
As discussed in the publication of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-166040, in a case where a server is stopped, it is possible to substitute a temporary server for the function of the server. The publication of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-166040 is also directed to communicating with a server closest to the destination of a mobile terminal and has a necessary function, as a temporary server, whereby the throughput and response time are improved.
As described above, in the job history information processing system, in a case where the agent management server is stopped for some cause, it becomes not possible to issue unique identification information in the system to the collection agent. In the job history information processing system, in a case where the agent management server is stopped, it becomes not possible to perform a process where issuing of unique identification information is required, for example, a process of registering the collection agent in the agent management server.
In a conventional job history processing server, it is not possible to receive data transfer from a collection agent to which identification information has not been issued and perform processing. The reason for this is as follows. Job history information that is not associated with identification information of an agent is insufficient as information for identifying a collection agent (a digital MFP or a PC) having executed a job. Thus, such job history information prevents an external system, such as a job history checking system, from referencing information.
For this reason, in a case where the agent management server is stopped, for example, the job history processing server cannot receive job history information of a network device, such as a digital MFP or a printer, even though the network device is newly placed. Consequently, it is not possible to practically use the network device due to a security issue. This is because of the security problem that if the network device is used in such a state, it becomes not possible to transfer job history to an external system, such as a job history checking system, and therefore, it is not possible to trace the leakage of information.
The system discussed in the publication of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-166040 has a configuration in which it is not necessary to issue unique identification information. Thus, the system cannot be applied to a job history information processing system for strictly managing identification information of a collection agent.